April was the best month for new jobs in more than two years for the United States, confirming suspicions that winter's economic doldrums turned around as brutal winter weather melted into spring.

In this April 10, 2014 photo, John Soung, right, and Gabriel Fitzgerald, second right, talk to recruiter Todd Zedicher of Integrated Life Choices, left, at a job fair at Kaplan University in Lincoln, Neb. The Labor Department said U.S. employers added a robust 288,000 jobs in April, the most in two years, the strongest evidence to date that the economy is picking up after a brutal winter slowed growth. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

The Labor Department reported Friday morning that the U.S. added 288,000 jobs in April, sending the unemployment rate to its lowest point since September 2008, 6.3 percent. While some of the drop from March's 6.7 percent unemployment rate was due to 300,000 long-term unemployed workers -- those searching for a job for more than six months -- giving up the hunt for a job, economists still cheered the labor market's ability to bounce back after weak growth late in 2013.

Friday's jobs report "lends significant legitimacy to the positive tone in the wide array of post-February economic reports, which have all been consistently pointing to a significant pickup in economic growth momentum this quarter," Millan Mulraine, deputy chief economist at TD Securities, told Reuters.

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The dire slowdown during the cold winter months was displayed by the federal government's reading of gross domestic product in the first quarter, which came in at 0.1 percent in a report released earlier this week, much lower than the expected 1.1 percent and down sharply from 2.6 percent growth in the final quarter of 2013. With the first month of the second quarter showing such strong growth, the growth that disappeared in the first quarter could be roaring across the United States with more to come.

"It appears that employers have bought into the idea that the weak stretch was weather-driven and would pass with time," Jim Baird of Plante Moran Financial Advisors wrote in a note. "Given April's strong job gains, it looks increasingly likely that growth should pick up sharply in the second quarter."

Optimism for the rest of the year stems from more than just Friday's jobs report. Consumer spending rose in March at the highest rate in more than four years, consumer confidence has hit peaks unseen since the Great Recession, and businesses are increasing spending on machinery and equipment.

"It is clear that many Americans headed out to the shopping mall and automobile dealerships in March after staying home and cranking up the heat for the first two months of the year," IHS Global Insight economist Chris Christopher said earlier this week.

April was the third consecutive month that the U.S. added more than 200,000 jobs, after anemic totals in December and January, and the gains were spread across many industries. Retail and construction both accounted for more than 30,000 new jobs, professional and business services added 75,000, health care added 19,000, and even government jobs -- one of the biggest drags on the labor market amid government cuts in the past few years -- clocked a gain of 15,000.

Not all of Friday's report was a warm burst of happiness for economists: Hourly wages in the private sector and the length of a workweek were unchanged. Most alarmingly, the large number of people who gave up looking for a job and others dropping off the grid pulled the labor force participation rate to a tie for its lowest reading more than 35 years, 62.8 percent.

"Baby boomers are retiring and the various government benefits including disability are contributing to the drop in the participation rate," CSU Channel Islands economics professor Sung Won Sohn told Reuters.

Still, enthusiasm is rampant for strong economic growth through the rest of 2014 as the United States continues to claw back from the ravages of the housing crisis.

Stock indexes suffered a slight tumble to end the week Friday, with Silicon Valley stocks dropping more than larger indexes as LinkedIn plummeted following its earnings report.

The Mountain View professional-networking service exceeded analyst expectations with its financial performance for the 12th consecutive quarter, but disappointed investors with a forecast that did not live up to expectations in Thursday afternoon's report, sending the stock down 8.3 percent to $148.90. "LinkedIn's outlook slightly disappointed, overshadowing a revenue and adjusted EBITDA beat," FBR analyst William Bird noted, adding later that "the market may be mispricing LinkedIn's revenue potential." Other analysts defended the company, however, calling it a solid investor target in the Web sector. Goldman Sachs analyst Heath Terry wrote, "The long-term trajectory of existing businesses and the opportunity represented by emerging businesses like Sales Navigator remain among the strongest in Internet," and RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney added, "We still believe that LinkedIn's fundamentals are among the strongest in the group."

Apple gained 0.2 percent to $592.58 while continuing to wait for a verdict in its San Jose trial with Korean rival Samsung, with the jury deliberating Friday for a fourth day. The Cupertino tech giant confirmed Friday that it acquired LuxVue Technology, a Santa Clara startup that focuses on the use of micro LEDs to improve screens; neither company disclosed the price paid for the company, which had raised $43 million in venture capital, according to TechCrunch. Google also confirmed the acquisition of a small private company Friday, picking up RangeSpan to bolster its Google Shopping offering. RangeSpan was founded by two former Amazon executives for retail-focused big-data operations, and could help Google in an e-commerce battle with Amazon that includes battling delivery services. Electronic Arts dropped 0.8 percent to $28.50 as Reuters reported that the Redwood City video game company will partner with Comcast to stream its offerings directly to consumers' television sets.

And the widely watched Standard & Poor's 500 index: Down 2.54, or 0.13 percent, to 1,881.14

Check in weekday afternoons for the 60-Second Business Break, a summary of news from Mercury News staff writers, The Associated Press, Bloomberg News and other wire services. Contact Jeremy C. Owens at 408-920-5876; follow him at Twitter.com/jowens510.